The Nasat gets in touch with his shen side.

The Star Trek novels interpreted the canonical four-way Andorian marriage as evidence of a four-sex biology and a four-gendered cultural system, as this offered a lot of story-telling potential. One question that arises, though, is how the four-gender paradigm played out in the early stages of Andorian development. In the "modern" era, the novels show us many Andorian social customs and traditions that point to ancient gender-specific functions, from traditional dress to particular deities for each sex, but what was it like back when those divisions were more pronounced? How does a four-way sexual division of labour work?

I've made some speculation on this issue, so I'll repost the gist of my interpretation. The novels do some of the work for us in mapping out the roles played by zhen, shen, chan, and thaan; for example, traditional dress designates the chan as warriors.

Extrapolating from what we get:

The gender which receive the traditional virtue of “strength” in the primary Andorian religion are the zhen, the nursing sex - the zhavey (zhen parent) is outright stated to be the traditional "primary caregiver" for the children. That’s interesting, as it suggests the Andorian concept of strength differs from a lot of human constructs. As I see it, many (most?) humans traditionally saw strength as a trait associated with the provider/protector roles, the labour force, public leadership, etc - and so as a virtue to be promoted among males (in fact, most people still define strength in those terms no matter the sex of the person in the role), and they segregated it from the nurturing, child-raising role of the female. The virtues of the mother and the virtue of strength were both praised highly but were very much separate. The Andorians, though, equate strength with the child-bearing and child-rearing sex. Strength is more a "feminine" virtue to them, it seems.

My interpretation: enduring childbirth in the dangerous conditions of frozen Andoria, caring for offspring and installing in the children the basic lessons needed to further the fortunes of the clan required, in Andorian terms, strength - first biologically (for the strain of childbirth, and given a four-sex paradigm I assume they were giving birth a lot), and culturally/spiritually. Indeed, if we consider what we see of Andorian family life in Trek lit, I think we might make a case that traditional society on Andoria is “matriarchal”, in the literal sense of mothers being the head of the family and the model for political authority. The books suggest that children take the zhen's family name most of the time; Thirishar ch’Thane, after all, after his zhavey Charivretha zh'Thane. And Thriss shared her name with her zhavey too, if I remember rightly. Also, as a happy serendipity, Pava Ek’Noor Aqabaa becoming sh’Aqabaa where her mother is Undeieela zh’Noor offers an "retcon" explanation for her unusual name - ek’Noor is in there because she didn’t take her zhavey’s surname. Perhaps she needs it in there in another fashion, because family lineage is read in a matrilineal fashion? If we consider characters like Charivretha zh’Thane and Sessathantis zh’Cheen, then the implications seem to be that the matron of the clan - the leading zhen - is still at least unofficially the most powerful political presence. Was the great Empress Thalisar the Last a zhen?

Anyway, moving onto that traditional clothing - for the two “female” genders it's a variety of dress, while chans wear “warrior’s attire”, and the thaan wear chain-mail. So, I was thinking; Andorian civilization developed as partly subterranean around hot-springs (both Jarman’s DS9 Andorians and Enterprise Andorians established this prior to the two approaches’ reconciliation in later novels). The clan Keep is traditionally (in part at least) a warren of tunnels. The chans, according to Thelin in “The Chimes at Midnight” are the sex traditionally least involved in child-rearing - and if they wear warrior’s attire we can assume they were the hunter-gatherer/war-makers who operated outside the keep, so this makes sense. Their value in the religious mythology is “wisdom” - the wisdom of the hunter-tracker, learning to read the signs of the natural world as he moved through it, outside the safety of the caves and the keep? After all, his gender's Guardian in the mainstream religion is the Star Guardian, and the Tale of the Breaking insists he "uses the stars as his guide."

Then, the other default “male” sex, the thaans, were perhaps closer to home and so more involved in family life, and formed a defensive perimeter perhaps (hence the chain-mail?). Their value is “passion” - the passion of standing their ground and fighting in direct defence of their family within the keep? I guess maybe thaans also performed close-to-home labour professions. Their Guardian is associated with Fire - the fire of passionate defence and of the forge?

Maybe some of this type of labour was performed by shens too (as Andorian “females” are apparently as tall or taller than “males” and we don’t know how physical power works for them - they may have had “females” in those roles too). Either way, as we go further in, we have the shens, who I guess maintain the home and keep the supplies running between the “males” on the edge and the zhen and young deep inside. This makes sense - their Guardian is the Water Guardian, their virtue Blood. They are the flowing life-blood between the zhen/children and the males, the currents connecting it all. Then, deep in the centre of the keep, are the nurseries and schools, and the zhens caring for the young - with the zhens also having political authority and, perhaps, the leadership role, because it is their strength that allows them to succeed in the child-birthing nurturing role. That’s not to say there’s a hierarchy of moving inward - there’s no evidence that any of the sexes were considered “inferior” in any sense, only that zhens were associated possibly with leadership, their mothering associated with strength. The zhen, of course, have the Earth Guardian, strong protector -- as they, who embody strength, are buried in the earth, at the heart of the subterranean keep?

As the Tale of the Breaking tells us:

From one, there shall be four. To one shall be given wisdom to be a protector - the cunning warrior who shall fight for the future. To another shall be given strength, providing a foundation upon which the others can build. One shall be given blood, the river of life that shall flow among the others, providing nurture and sustenance when the flesh longs to yield. And to the last shall be given passion, for the flame of desire will bring change to the others and warm them when the chill is bitterest”.

So Thirishar became four: Charaleas became wisdom; Zheusal became strength; Shanchen became blood; Thirizaz became passion. Together, the four are the First Kin.

Uzaveh banished the four to the farthest reaches of the kingdom and upon seeing them there, so far from the Thrones and utterly alone, appointed for each a guardian. For Thirizaz, the Fire Daemon fed the soul-consuming passion. Loving Shanchen became a vessel for the Water Spirit, forever bound to the Eternal love flowing from Uzaveh’s Throne. For strong Zheusal, Earth became protector. For wise Charaleas, the Stars became guides, their light defying darkest night.

PS: One of the Corps of Engineers stories establishes "Zhutanii" as the polite form of address for a quad as a whole (better than saying "Zha, Cha, Sha and Tha" everytime). I notice it begins with "zh", reinforcing the idea that zhen are the strong foundation on which the Whole is built.

The Nasat Summarises Trek Lit Post-DS9, part one

Also known as: The New Expanded Humerous Novel List. Yes, my first major post isn't a serious review, but part one of a silly joke. Being bored, and following an exchange in an older thread of the Trek BBS Trek Lit forum, I decided to offer humerous recaps of almost all the novels set after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. All the novels, that is, which are set in the same consistent reality, what we readers have taken to calling the "novel verse". I'm a big fan of the novels' trend towards consistency and continuity, but collectively they can seem a bit intimidating to newer readers. This post will be of no help at all on that front and will instead make new readers even more confused. Here's a list of every major story from the end of DS9, through the last two seasons of Voyager, and through to the post-Nemesis period. I assure you, my summaries are accurate...if a little incomplete.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: A Stitch In Time: In which Garak pens an elaborate fan fiction and posts it on the internet, reveals his life story, or some combination of the two. Having satisfied his urge to confuse people, he goes back to planting flowers.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Left Hand of Destiny, books one and two: In which Martok studies human culture in hopes of kicking off his reign with a real epic. He confuses King Arthur with Star Wars, and re-enacts the Battle of Hoth and the Battle of Camlann at the same time.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Diplomatic Immunity: In which Worf gets roped into saving the polar bears, but can’t really be bothered. He crowns a whiny engineer “Emperor of the Polar Bears” and calls it a day.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Avatar, books one and two: In which several Jem’Hadar refuse to admit it’s over and plough on regardless, while the Deep Space Nine series essentially does the same thing. Kira is kicked out of the Bajoran religion for praying in church.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Abyss: In which Bashir finally meets a real Bond Villain - one who wants to re-enact the plot of Moonraker, for reasons known only to himself. Ro recruits monkey cannon fodder to help bring him down, while Vaughn reveals he stole a holoship from Insurrection, continuing his attempt to tie himself to any and all events in Star Trek history.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Demons of Air and Darkness: In which many things happen, some, if not most of them, relating not at all to Taran'atar fighting Hirogen.

Star Trek: The Brave and the Bold: In which every Star Trek crew and their supporting casts are nearly outwitted by a box.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Mission Gamma: Twilight: In which Shar runs away to sea to escape disappointed family members, and Vaughn decides to do the same - only to then remember that his daughter's already assigned to the same ship. Vaughn dumps Prynn and Shar on a desolate world out of general spite, but has to go and retreive them when the plot punishes him with a flashback montage; this being Vaughn, it covers practically every event since 2280.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Mission Gamma: This Gray Spirit: In which Vaughn tries to leave Shar behind again, this time with Dax, but once more has to go back for them when Dax starts a revolutionary war after speaking out at the dinner table. In the alpha quadrant, Cardassia cleans out its attic and tries to foist what it finds on the Bajorans; fortunately, the Bajorans mistake it for sensitive diplomacy.

Star Trek: IKS Gorkon: A Good Day To Die: In which the Klingons kick off their own series by playing "capture the flag" and building dainty sailboats. Through the rigours of the tiddlywink competition, they teach us the true test of the warrior.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Mission Gamma: Cathedral: In which Julian Bashir visits a space-cathedral and loses his medical competence behind the pew cushions. Ezri loses Dax, while Nog finds a spare leg. The local priests help return the missing items but confiscate the leg. Meanwhile, tragedy strikes when the Trill delegation finds an unguarded weapons locker and begin playing with the contents. Later claims that the First Minister was actually an alien monster impress no-one.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Mission Gamma: Lesser Evil: In which Vaughn finally tracks down his wife and kills her. Back on Deep Space Nine, the crew realize that TNG season one has infiltrated the station, and declare quarantine.

Star Trek: IKS Gorkon: In the Name of Honor: In which Klag, on a mission to conquer new worlds, decides to impede efforts to conquer a new world. For the honour of the Klingon Empire, he fights the Klingon Empire and banishes it from the planet forever. The treacherous natives then backstab him and willingly join the empire, fulfilling his original mission. Martok, mistaking this for an elaborate farce, applauds all involved.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Rising Son: In which Jake Sisko finds the courage to claw his way back to relevance, and becomes a pirate. He plunders several lost treasures, but to his frustration all of them natter on beatifically about the Prophets. Resigned to his status as a pawn, he goes home.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Unity: In which Sisko tricks the Prophets into opening the back door to let in some air, then makes a run for it. The Prophets can't chase after him because as soon as the door's open Kira releases insectoid vermin into the the Temple, forcing them to deal with the infestation. The plan works perfectly.

Star Trek: IKS Gorkon: Enemy Territory: In which the Klingons send shockwaves through xenosociological circles by discovering a race with a political system even more frinxed up than theirs. Being Klingons, they celebrate by destroying it.

Parts 2 and 3 to follow!

The Nasat belatedly raises his flag and claims his patch of the internet

When it comes to technology, I'm always about a decade behind everyone else. Hence I've only just decided to make a blog, and not a very good one at that. Inspired by some of my fellow posters over at the Trek BBS, I thought I'd create a place in which to store my various reviews, opinion posts, light-hearted analyses and ponderings regarding Star Trek novels, that most essential of subjects. After all, do not Star Trek novels touch each and every one of us in some essential if unspecified way? They don't? Well I like them, and this is my blog (assuming I started it up right, which is not necessarily an assumption you can make where I'm concerned). So there. I think I have enough material to make this worthwhile, particularly if I deviate from my stated subject now and then and expand my musings to popular sci-fi in general. After all, the Trek Lit forum is just one of many on the good old BBS.

So, here we are; the Nasat has finally found a niche of his own in which to collect his various scribblings. Please don't think this is intended to be serious or useful; it's just an indulgence for me. But if I pick up a follower or two, or if someone wants to take a look at my natterings, I'll be happier for it. Let's now see if I can post this successfully.